BERLIOZ'S FANTASTIC

State Philharmonic Orchestra Košice
Paolo BORTOLAMEOLLI , conductor
Martin ADÁMEK , clarinet

Programme:

Ludwig van Beethoven: Coriolanus, overture, op. 62. 10´
Louis Spohr: Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in E minor No. 4, WoO 20 25´
Hector Berlioz: Symphony Fantastic, Op. 14. 55´

Under the influence of the dramatic poem by Heinrich von Collin, Beethoven wrote the overture Coriolanus. With his music, the composer brilliantly expressed the spiritual drama of a man whose wounded pride is overcome by a strong love for his homeland. The aristocrat Coriolanus is expelled from Rome, so he joins forces with a hostile nation to take revenge on his hometown. The hero is characterized by an energetic, urgent main theme, and its insistent melody expresses Coriolanus' stubbornness and wounded self-love. The secondary, singing theme represents the voice of conscience, which awakens under the influence of the pleading pleas of his wife and mother. In the dramatic musical conflict, the humanistic vision ultimately triumphs over the egoistic ambitions of the individual in a magnificent soundscape.

At the end of 1821, the career of the German composer Louis Spohr reached a fundamental turning point when he was appointed court bandmaster in Kassel. There he also composed his Clarinet Concerto No. 4 in E minor, which is one of his best pieces. The work begins with a dark, romantic-sounding theme that contrasts with a calm secondary theme. This relaxed atmosphere is interrupted by sudden and intense orchestral entrances. The meditative and melancholic Larghetto follows, with operatic allusions arising from declamatory passages and dramatic arpeggios. The finale appears cheerful on the surface, but the music also conceals a feeling of sadness emphasized by dark colors.

Hector Berlioz's Symphony no. 14 marks a milestone in the entire development of world symphonic work, the composer founded a new direction of thought in it. He created a program symphony and called its main idea the idée fixe, with which he works in a special way in all five parts of the work. Berlioz musically processes romantic, dreamy and fanciful artistic ideas in masterful, colorful instrumentation and precisely structured symphonic images. These are inspired by the stormy mental impulses of the artist, who succumbs to visions of unrequited love.